Building record 7572/3 - Kermincham Hall Barn, Forty Acre Lane

<1> The Archaeology Co., 2017, Kermincham Hall Barn Historic Building Survey, R4049 (Client Report). SCH8300.

In 2017 an historical building assessment and survey was undertaken as a condition of a planning permission for the redevelopment of Kermincham Hall Barn, Forty Acre Lane, Kermincham CW4 8DX.

The Mainwarings were associated with the hall (see 7572/1), and the area of Kermincham, since at least the 15th century. The family lived at the hall through to the late eighteenth century, with John Mainwaring Uniacke leaving the property in 1799 for Reverend Page Godfrey. Mr Newam took over the residence in 1808 from the Reverend and it seems likely that this was the first time the site became used as a farm. As such, this is likely the earliest date for the barn. However, the area was known to be a park in the early 1820’s, as well as shown as such on Greenwood’s map of 1819. The map also does not show the barn at this time, although it also fails to show the hall. Thomas Buckley moved into the hall in 1825 and a map of Kermincham was made during his three year occupancy, which shows the barn erected by this time. This gives a likely construction date for the barn between 1808 and 1827. That there were no other farm buildings on the site suggest a date closer to 1808 rather than 1827, as such a building would have been required for the farm work.

The building is a ‘U’ shaped brick built structure in Flemish bond. It is two stories high with a roof of stone slabs. On the eastern side a single story lean-to extension, a small shippon/stable, was added between 1850 and 1875, also in brick. The roof of this was collapsed at the time of this survey. The building contains no chimneys and the roofs of the projecting bays are hipped. A string course, a single brick thick, runs around the building between ground and first floor levels. It has undergone changes over its life, starting out as a combination threshing barn. Changes in use as practices developed and new technologies were introduced saw doorways blocked up, with others inserted, and windows added to allow more light. The pairs of double doorways in the projecting northern bays were inserted and the northern barn door altered slightly to match. The southern barn door was also once the barn was no longer for threshing, being converted to a single story and allowing for the first floor to be extended across the barn.